Aircraft are fitted with a variety of external lights such as position lights, landing lights and anti-collision strobes and beacons. Aircraft position lights (APLs), also known as navigation lights, by color and placement on the aircraft identify its position, heading and status. Beacon lights, sometimes referred to as anti-collision or strobe lights, provide synchronized, high-intensity bursts of light to help other pilots recognize the aircraft's position in low-visibility conditions. Legacy beacon/anti-collision light system consist of two synchronized red flashing incandescent lamps installed on the top and the bottom of the fuselage, and three synchronized white flashing incandescent lamps which are installed on each wing tip and the tail of the fuselage. Similarly, legacy APLs consist of red and green incandescent lamps installed on the left and right wing tips, respectively, which remain continuously illuminated during aircraft operation.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) offer superior operational life as compared to incandescent lamps, and in certain configurations superior light output. As such, LEDs are being used with increased frequency in aircraft lighting applications in place of incandescent lamps including beacon/anti-collision applications. However, because LEDs require direct current (DC) power, their operation cannot be synchronized using the alternating current (AC) frequency of the power line as a synchronizing trigger. Instead, LED anti-collision light systems use a network of cables within the air-frame in addition to power cables to provide synchronization signals to the LEDs. These cables commonly weigh tens to hundreds of pounds and directly impact aircraft operational payload and fuel consumption.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an LED-based beacon/anti-collision light system that does not require synchronizing cables, thus reducing aircraft weight.